Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

Perfecting the Role of Accident Prevention

No one wants an employee to get hurt. This affects the well-being of the employee and can have major implications for a district’s bottom-line. Districts are not only responsible for paying direct costs such as the employee’s medical bills; they are responsible for paying indirect costs such as paying a substitute teacher, making up for schedule delays, repairing damaged property and spending administrative time to investigate the accident and implement corrective action.

Furthermore, the frequency and seriousness of employee accidents can greatly affect a district’s Experience Modifier Rate – the calculation of risk an insurance provider uses to determine a district’s insurance premium.

Because of the possibility for steep financial set-backs – as well as the desire to build a culture of safety – districts should implement a specific protocol to follow in the event of an accident. Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District uses a six-step process when any incident or accident occurs:

Notification

Response

Fact-Finding

Analysis

Corrective Action

Follow-Up

Following the same six steps every time ensures helps to reduce risk for school districts and provides consistent and thorough recordkeeping of the accident, which is helpful for all parties – especially the district and their insurance provider. With the EmployeeSafe Suite, all accident reporting takes place in the Staff Accident Management System. Once the online accident report is completed and submitted, the system auto-contacts building-level and central office administrators, as well as the district’s insurance provider so that the investigation and remediation can begin. Key people can access the accident report at any time to add information or notes from the investigation. Administrators can pull reports based on parameters such as date, time of day/year, building, employee and more to determine if there is a trend in recurring accidents. This data can help drive prevention initiatives such as strategically training employees and more.

To learn more about Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District’s six-step process and how EmployeeSafe supports its protocol and preventative programming, read this article in School Business Affairs, ASBO International’s publication.